Quiet Storm by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 14 March 2024
I have rarely watched Netflix for over a year except on Sundays after lunch. Aside from my busy schedule, I find really nothing so special nowadays with Netflix. Even my folks back home rarely watch it.
However, three Sundays ago at the start of Lent, I felt like that kid in the 1982 Poltergeist movie wanting to scream “they’re… back” not out of fear but of sheer joy like a child when I saw NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit streaming! I had to forego my siesta and spent the whole afternoon binge-watching an old favorite.
The following Sunday as I looked forward to another afternoon of Law & Order, I found Netflix streaming anew another favorite, Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories.
From then on, I have found another good reason to binge-watch Netflix once in a while even on weekdays. And what a wonderful daily trip to have between the world’s two greatest cities, New York and Tokyo!
I have always loved watching police stories since childhood. It was my first “dream” job – to be a detective like Jack Lord, a.k.a. Steve Magarette of Hawaii Five-O, Michael Douglas with Carl Marden of Streets of San Francisco, and the many cops of Hill Street Blues.
A spin-off from the original series Law & Order that was equally good, Law & Order: SVU is distinctly unique with its introduction that says,
In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
Opening narration spoken by Steven Zirnkilton
The show premiered in September 1999 and has now become America’s longest running crime series now on its 25th season. What Netflix is streaming are the five seasons from 2009.
But, we love reruns!
The same thing is true with Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories. Originally called Midnight Diner when it premiered in 2009, it was renamed to its present title in 2016 when Netflix took over its production to make it more slick perhaps and palatable to worldwide audience without losing its Japanese touch and flavors that make it so irresistible especially the Nihongo language and songs.
Like Law & Order: SVU, Midnight Diner has a distinctive introduction that promises it to be a series one should not miss.
When people finish their day and hurry home, my day starts. My diner is open from midnight to seven in the morning. They call it “Midnight Diner”. [cut to menu listing “pork miso soup combo, beer, sake, shochu”] That’s all I have on my menu. But I make whatever customers request as long as I have the ingredients for it. That’s my policy. Do I even have customers? More than you would expect.[1]
Opening narration by the chef known simply as the “Master” played by Kaoru Kobayashi
Again, like our favorite from New York, this Tokyo series streamed anew by Netflix is a rerun of its 2019 season. You may check our previous blog on this show at https://lordmychef.com/2019/11/20/midnight-diner-tokyo-stories-are-recipes-for-troubled-hearts-and-lonely-souls/.
But of course, we love “reheated” food as much as we enjoy reruns in TV shows and movies!
Like old movies and TV shows, some food tastes better when reheated the second time. Even the third time like mechado or anything with sarsa (sauce).
We call it in Filipino, pangat for pangalawa (second) o pangatlong (third) init (reheat)! Actually, pangat is the simplest way of cooking fish boiled in small amount of water with tomatoes and/or onions or kamias.
Maybe, as we get older, everything becomes simpler in life. We do not want so many complications or “dramas” as we say. Simple food, simple drinks, simple evenings. Even reruns and replays, whether food or shows. Why, even people maybe because our bestest friends are those we have kept all these years that whenever we get together, we just rerun our conversations of the same topics when we were together 30 years or 40 years or 50 years ago!
Law & Order: SVU and Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories are two great series like our good old friends. Both shows have got better as they age but always relevant because in their very heart is still the dignity of every human person who must be loved and respected always.
It is amazing that both series are set at two great cities of the world, so apart with each other in everything yet, it is always nice to find kind souls with warm hearts willing to lay everything down for what is true and good. And noble.
Catch them in Netflix. Even for the second or the third or the fourth time. They are television’s finest. Both are a gem to treasure.
*By the way, we are not paid by Netflix nor by anyone for this. We just love the series. Promise.
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